The Rollins family is one of the oldest and most numerous in the state. In southeastern New Hampshire, from the seaboard to Lake Winnipesaukee, the Rollins name is prominent in the history of almost every town. Most, if not all, the representatives of the name in this region, and among them the subject of this sketch, are the descendants of James Rollins (or _Rawlins_, as the name was then and for a long time after spelled, and is now by some branches of the family), who came to America in 1632, with the first settlers of Ipswich, Mass., and who, ten or twelve years afterwards, located in that portion of old Dover known as "Bloody Point," now embraced in the town of Newington, where he died about 1690. The representatives of the family suffered their full share in the privations and sacrifices incident to the firm establishment of the colony, and performed generous public service in the early Indian and French wars, and the great Revolutionary contest. Ichabod, the eldest son of James Rawlins, and of whom Edward H. is a lineal descendant, was waylaid and killed by a party of Indians, while on the way from Dover to Oyster River (now Durham), with one John Bunker, May 22, 1707. Thomas, the second son of James, who subsequently became a resident of Exeter, was a member of the famous "dissolved assembly" of 1683, who took up arms under Edward Gove and endeavored to incite an insurrection against the tyrannical royal governor, Cranfield. For this attempt, Gove and others, including Thomas Rawlins, were presented for high treason. Gove was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, but was subsequently pardoned. We do not learn, however that any of the others were tried. Others of the family fell victims to the murderous malignity of the Indians. There were from twenty-five to thirty descendants of James Rawlins, of the fourth and fifth generations, engaged in active service, and several of them in distinguished capacities, in the patriot cause during the Revolutionary war.